Billy Leon Kearse, convicted for the 1991 killing of Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish during a traffic stop, was executed the evening of March 3 after 29 years on death row.
Kearse, 53, was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m. after succumbing to lethal injection administered at Florida State Prison in Raiford.
Beforehand, he spoke to those witnessing his execution: “To his family, I sincerely apologize for what I’ve done. There is no way I can ever repay that with this death, it will never repay that … And in turn I pray that my father would give me strength to ask their forgiveness so I can go on my journey. All I can do is ask for their forgiveness to give you peace and resolve. Thank you.”
A stay of execution was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court in the afternoon.
Kearse woke up around 6:30 in the morning and met with a spiritual advisor, according to Jordan Kirkland, communications director for the Florida Department of Corrections.
“He’s in calm and good spirits,” Kirkland said about two hours before the execution. He said he declined his right to a last meal.
The death warrant for Kearse was signed over a month ago by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
BLOG: Happenings outside Florida State Prison in Raiford
“I’m 60 years old; I didn’t think I’d see this day,” said Parrish’s widow, Mirsha Busbin, on Feb. 24. “I don’t like to wish death on anyone. But this is the only way I see there being justice.”
Most of Parrish’s loved ones besides Busbin and his sister, Grace Blanton, have since passed away — while Kearse has spent his days on death row, fighting his execution all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Blanton, 63, said she couldn’t live in Fort Pierce without every street reminding her of her brother’s violent death. After the shooting, Blanton and her spouse relocated to North Carolina, and her parents moved to Wildwood in Sumter County. Blanton was unable to attend the execution, but wanted to, she said.
“Even though we moved away, we never — every day — we never forgot Danny,” Blanton told TCPalm before the execution. “It had a big impact on our family … It destroyed my parents.”
Kearse arrested in Fort Pierce
After picking up a pizza that Friday night in 1991, Kearse, 18, was driving on North Seventh Street, then right on Avenue A — driving the wrong way on the one-way street. Parrish stopped him about 7:45 p.m.
Kearse gave him two fake names before Parrish said he was arresting him for driving without a license.
When Parrish approached with handcuffs, Kearse panicked and began to fight him. He said he was on probation and didn’t want to go back to jail. Parrish was pulling his gun out of his holster when Kearse grabbed the weapon and shot him 13 times. He fired in groups, between which Parrish begged for his life, court documents show.
A taxi driver heard the shots, saw Kearse driving away, and called for help on Parrish’s radio.
Kearse was convicted of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm in October 1991 and sentenced to death in March 1997.
The case has since bounced around the legal system, going before the Florida Supreme Court 11 times, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta three times and the U.S. Supreme Court another three times, according to 19th Circuit State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl.
DeSantis signs death warrant
Busbin said she could not reach closure while Kearse was living his life and Parrish was not.
“If he’d have shot Danny once or twice because he freaked out, that’s easier to forgive,” she said. “But when you get on the stand and say you didn’t believe the ‘pig,’ so you shot him 13 more times, what other justice is there for you?”
Busbin has written to previous governors and traveled to Tallahassee with an 8-by-10 photograph of her deceased husband to visit former Gov. Charlie Crist to sign Kearse’s death warrant.
She had not heard much until receiving a letter in 2022 from the state that said all of Kearse’s appeals were exhausted, and that there was nothing else she could do besides petition the governor to sign his death warrant.
In a final effort in 2024, Busbin and six others, including Bakkedahl, wrote to DeSantis asking again for Kearse’s execution.
DeSantis signed the death warrant Jan. 29, ordering the execution as the third this year. Kearse’s death comes after a record 19 executions in 2025.
When his execution date was official, Kearse was moved from his 7-foot by 9-foot death row cell at Raiford’s Union Correctional Institution to a 12-foot by 7-foot death watch cell at Florida State Prison. He was allowed one personal and one legal phone call.
“I wonder what he was thinking, just having that firm deadline on March 3 at 6 p.m., knowing ‘My life’s going to end,’ ” Busbin said. “That’s kind of a cruel thought.”
(This story was updated with more information, photos and videos.)
Jack Lemnus is a TCPalm enterprise reporter. Contact him at jack.lemnus@tcpalm.com, 772-409-1345, or follow him on X @JackLemnus.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Billy Kearse executed for killing Fort Pierce Officer Danny Parrish
Reporting by Jack Lemnus, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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